Notes / Commercial Description:
Thanks for choosing to spend the next few minutes with this special homicidally hoppy ale. Savor the moment as the raging hop character engages the Imperial Qualities of the Malt Foundation in mortal combat on the battlefield of your palate!

T: This one's all hops. Up front tastes of earthy pine, grains and grass. You're left with a strong lingering bitterness. Nice hop flavoring here. Tastes fresh. Some malt balance but mostly a hop bomb here.

M: Mouthfeel is on the thicker side yet somewhat slick. Definitely a lingering mouth feeling to match the bitterness that clings after swallowing. Medium amount of carbonation. Feels good all around. What you would expect and hope for from an IPA.

O: My first Lagunitas experience here. They recently made it to Nashville and I look forward to trying other styles. A great IPA all around here. Well balanced with fantastic hop flavors. This one ranks up there with the top IPA's in my book.

More User Reviews:

I’ve had this many times before, but, having just joined the site, I decided to write a review this time. The beer is dated 6/3/14 (about two months old). It pours a straw yellow that borders on copper under certain lighting. The aroma is pleasant with a subtle citrus characteristic, but predominantly earthy resinous hops. The taste has more citrus than the nose would suggest and is full of orange and lemon zest. The beer finishes with a sturdy, resinous hop bitterness that lingers on the tongue for awhile. It is medium bodied with a modest amount of carbonation, which suits the style well. Overall, a solid beer. At a reasonable price, it is a nice go-to beer.

Pours with a nice head with medium sized bubbles. Bit of lacing. Soon dissipates to a line. Clear and darkish amber brew. Aroma of lemon, grapefruit, butterscotch, toffee and caramel. Front of mouth: feel of carbonation on the tongue. Mid mouth: explosion of grapefruit hoppyness swirling with a carbonation burst. Back of mouth: toffee with citrus and a sharp, almost sour, bitterness which goes no further. After the swallow, there is a lingering toffee bitterness with a slight metallic afterglow. |Grapefruit toffee burbs to follow. The mouthfeel is thick and lasting and overall, it is a pretty sweet beer. I have not tried many American IPAs. When I tried my first 'C' hop beer, I thought it was overkill but these provide something new to the palate which has grown on me. My first impression of this, is that it tastes somewhat synthetic and too bold but I am used to English IPAs which are far more subtle. The tastes do not feel complex but of just a few components. I am hoping this style will grow on my and there will be no turning back. The initial shock is, probably, just my immaturity when it comes to American IPAs but I guess it is a cultural thing where American tastes lack the subtlety and heritage of European beers but make bold tastes which strikes out into new territory (excuse the pun). It will be interesting to see where this leads in the long run but this is a very good beer.

Hard to find a bad beer from these guys. Deep golden pour with sticky white top. Aroma is pine and malt. Flavor is more of the same, with a bit of a bite at the finish that just brings you back for more. Malty, piney goodness, smooth stuff.

This beer is widely available, which tends to have a negative impact on the ratings. I will tell you that this beer is excellent. Sierra Nevada Pale is widely available and is one of the best pale ales out there. This is a top 10 IPA. This is my first IPA and I think one of the mount rushmore IPA's that opened the floodgates for this category. What I like best about it is that it is smooth compared to the one sided dominant hop profiles that seem to dominate the landscape to the detriment of the beer. Yes, I love hops but all hops and no balance does not a beer make. Lagunitas is delicious and is one of those rare beers that actually taste better from the bottle than on tap. It is a top 10 IPA. Nuff said.

Sampled on tap at The Taphouse in Red Deer. This is an extremely enjoyable IPA. Light, citrusy, and outdoorsy (if that makes any sense). I found this to be a balanced and refreshing IPA - I would not hesitate to pick up another!

Absolute garbage, and so well distributed that it's always in your face. A generic northern california IPA that is in every bar and every convenience store, but is actually a watery worthless ale. I'm literally disappointed every time someone buys this. A bland, filler beer that you might drink just to get drunk and not seem like a cheapskate for drinking PBR. Avoid if you can.

Looks a bit light relative to the IPAs I'm used to in the PNW. It's well filtered, a light-to-mid yellow-orange with good carbonation. The head is a little high, maybe 6mm with a moderate pour -- off-white, ivory. Very lacey. Though it's lightly colored it's a nice looking beer.

The smell is also light for an IPA relative to what I'm used to. It's a bit floral and skunky with only a little bit of pine. Pleasant but not really outstanding or interesting.

The taste has some mild bitterness and the skunk in the smell comes through again. There isn't a lot of the complexity or interesting hop character that I've found in really great IPAs. The finish is 'flat' and a little bitter. Carbonation is a little high and overall body is just a little thin.

This isn't a bad beer but I don't see why I'd choose it over the great IPA options that we get in the PNW unless it was a really great deal and I needed a budget option, but it actually tends to be a little on the costly side.

Golden amber like color.
Smelled a little citrusy with a pine aroma.
I could taste some hop presence along with some mild bitterness and citrus like notes.
Mild amount of carbonation.
This is a very nice IPA and for the price (about $16 for a 12 pack) it's a home run!

Poured from 22 oz bottle to glass. Moderate hoppy scent with the usual west coast IPA pine/grassy undercurrent aroma. Colour is amber/yellow with light head. Taste like a typical American IPA. Not bad at all, but not special either. Light Mouthfeel goes down smooth. For the price I would have expected a little more bitter flavour and a little higher ABV. But it's still not bad.

Well, very surprised and pleased with this IPA. Didn't expect it to be soo smooth. Delightful, yet unexpected. Have only tried their Imperial Stout. Decided to venture more into the unknown... pours very light off golden color with a more than typical white head. Nice lacing to boot. Smells of citrus, alil pine in there too and some fruits. Very smooth didnt not expect, was expecting more hops but it likey very much. After taste not bitter ar all. Defintley will pursue in the future. Cheers

A very basic IPA. Tastes of citrus, bready malts, hops. Good entry beer into this style. Good to session. Enjoyed from bottle with no date. Also a good beer to have at your sports bar if they have it on tap.

On draft at the Abbey in Providence RI. Nice color and nose, but underwhelming with the overall taste and flavor profile. Nothing wrong, but just average for me. Might also have been that I was expecting more.

Appearance: This beer has a clear dark golden color with a small-medium head. The head is composed of thick bubbles instead of the tiny ones that you see in a finer head. These larger constituent bubbles make for a nice texture and each bubble pops with a hint of the aroma which I’ll talk about next.

Smell: The smell is very nice, but is not very strong. I can pick up on the malty front and the mild hops at the back, but other than this you should rely on the taste to enjoy this beer.

Taste: The taste is great. If you don’t want a powerful IPA like a Double or Extra IPA for those lazy weekdays, then this is the beer for you. I personal enjoy this beer as is, but I wouldn’t mind a higher IBU or ABV content. The malts hit first with a nice toasty flavor and gives way to a delayed citrus laced hop.

Mouthfeel: The mouth feel is nice. It has enough carbonation to dance with the mild alcohol content and there is a lingering resin-like coating on the tongue after a sip. This has a smooth feel to it also.

Overall: I would say this is a great beer by Lagunitas, but not as awesome as their Lil’ Sumpin’ Sumpin’ variety. This Lagunitas IPA is a nice go-to beer if you can’t find anything stronger or more robust. I found the only negative thing about this beer to be a lack of complexity. I usually look for a well-timed release of a variety of flavors each as strong as the last, but this one is sort of monotonic. Not bad, but just not excellent.